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Phillipa Soo
Phillipa Soo (born May 31, 1990) is an American actress and singer. Soo is perhaps best known for originating the role of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton in the Broadway musical Hamilton, a performance for which she was nominated for the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Soo also originated the role of Natasha Rostova in a number of New York productions of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 in 2012 and 2013. Soo is set to next appear in the title role of the new Broadway musical Amélie. Early life and education Soo is of both Anglo-American and Chinese ethnicity. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Soo spoke about her upbringing: "my dad is first-generation, so his parents were from China, and my mom was born and raised in southern Illinois, and she was involved in the arts. My dad's a doctor. I was very much always encouraged pursue an acting career, but the mentality of 'get your education' was still there." Soo attended Libertyville High School from 2004 to 2008. Soo graduated from The Juilliard School's acting program in 2012. Career Theatre After graduating from Juilliard in 2012, Soo was cast as Natasha Rostova in the Ars Nova production of Dave Malloy's Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, based on Leo Tolstoy's War & Peace; the show went on to transfer Off-Broadway to Kazino, a tent custom built for the show. After seeing her in Great Comet, director Thomas Kail and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda asked her to take part in an early 2014 reading of the musical Hamilton, where she read as the leading female role, "Eliza" (Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton). Soo remained with the show through its Off-Broadway and Broadway debuts. She received a 2016 Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical, along with Laura Benanti, Carmen Cusack, Jessie Mueller, and winner Cynthia Erivo. Soo played her last performance in Hamilton on July 9, 2016, and the role of Eliza Hamilton was taken over by Lexi Lawson. Soo is next scheduled to appear in the title role in the pre-Broadway engagement of Amélie at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles from December 2016 to January 2017. The show is set to then open on Broadway in the spring of 2017, with Soo continuing to star. Film and television In 2013 she was cast in a small recurring role in the NBC television series Smash as the character Lexi. She appeared in five episodes in the second season before the show's cancellation. She had a small supporting role as Nia in the 2014 television pilot Dangerous Liaisons, but it did not get picked up to series. In 2016, it was announced that Soo would voice a character in the upcoming Disney movie Moana. The character's name is yet to be announced. Personal life Soo became engaged to actor Steven Pasquale in February 2016. Theatre credits Filmography Awards and nominations Category:People Category:Cast Category:Off-Broadway Cast Category:Original Broadway Cast